page_title: Shrinathji
section_title: Legend
hierarchical_section_title: Shrinathji / History / Legend
caption_attribution_description: English: "The discovery and installation of the image of Sri Nathji. In the sacred landscape of Mount Govardhan, Vallabhacharya is shown meeting and honouring the image discovered on the mountain-side. In the top left-hand corner, the earlier part of the narrative is shown when the cow is seen lactating over the hidden image of the god. In the foreground are the local villagers of Vrindavan, and indeed the houses of the village and its circular tank. See Amit Ambal, 'Krishna as Shrinathji. Rajasthani Paintings from Nathdvara', Mapin 1987, p. 50-1."
context_page_description: Shrinathji is a form of Hindu god Krishna, manifest as a seven-year-old child. The principal shrine of Shrinathji is the Shrinathji Temple in the temple town of Nathdwara, 48 kilometres north-east of Udaipur city in Rajasthan. Shrinathji is the central presiding deity of the Vaishnava sect known as the Pushti Marg or the Vallabh Sampradaya, established by Vallabhacharya. Shrinathji is worshipped mainly by the followers of Bhakti Yoga and the Vaishnava in Gujarat and Rajasthan and Bhatia's and among others.
  Vitthal Nathji, son of Vallabhacharya institutionalised the worship of Shrinathji at Nathdwara. On account of the popularity of Shrinathji, Nathdwara town itself is referred to as ‘Shrinathji’. People also call it bava's nagri.
  Initially, the child Krishna deity was referred to as Devdaman. Vallabhacharya named him as Gopala and the place of his worship as ‘Gopalpur’. Later, Vitthal Nathji named the deity as Shrinathji. Shrinathjis seva is performed in 8 parts of the day.
context_section_description: The followers of Pushtimarg narrate that the deity's arm and face first emerged from the Govardhan hill, and thereafter, the local inhabitants (Vrajavasis) under the spiritual leadership of Madhavendra Puri started the worship of the Gopal (Krishna) deity. This Gopala deity was later termed as Shrinathji. Thus, Madhavendra Puri is attributed to discovery of the deity of Gopal near Govardhana, which was later adapted and worshiped by Vallabhacharya
  as Shrinathji. Initially, Madhavendra Puri, carried out the worship of the deity's upraised arm and later, the face.
  According to Pushtimarg literature, Shrinathji appeared to Shri Vallabhacharya, in the Hindu Vikram Samvat year 1549 and directed the Vallabhacharya to proceed to the Govardhan Hill to begin worship. Vallabhacharya made arrangements for the worship of this deity, and this tradition was carried forward by his son, Vitthalnathji.
  Nathdwara is the epicentre of the Pushti Margiya Vaishnav community and Shrinathji is their prime deity. For centuries now, the seat of the Tilakayat Maharaj has ruled over Nathdwara. He is the head pontiff, taking the seat of Shri Vallabhacharyaji and Shri Gusainji.
  The contemporary head pontiff of Nathdwara is Go. Ti. Shri 108 Shri Indradamanji (Rakeshji) Maharaj, who is the 17th descendent of Shri Vallabhacharya Mahaprabhuji. He is called the Tilakayat of Nathdwara and is a steward of the town as well as the head priest of Shrinathji. 
  The Heir Apparent of Nathdwara, by the age old tradition of Shri Gusainji, is the son of the current Tilakayat Maharaj — Go. Chi. Shri Vishal (Bhupeshkumarji) Bawa sahab. He is proactive in religious as well as social affairs of the town and serves as the ‘Paricharak’ or assistant to his father in the temple. He is known as Goswami Vishal Nathdwara (GVN) on social media and has revolutionised the way of ‘religious living’ to his young audience.
caption: Vallabhacharya discovers Sri Nathji, at Mount Govardhan
exif: {"Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.10.20", "Image DateTime": "2020:08:24 16:26:40", "Image ExifOffset": "136", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "256", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "186", "Thumbnail BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail PhotometricInterpretation": "6", "Thumbnail SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "262", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "18346", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB"}